catastrophizes
Expects the worst
Catastrophizes means to imagine or treat a situation as far worse than it actually is, mentally escalating minor problems into disasters.
Someone who catastrophizes a headache might convince themselves it's a brain tumor.
She tends to catastrophize every little setback.
The tendency is common in anxiety disorders, where the mind spirals toward worst-case scenarios.
Disproportionate emotional response
- dramatizationConverting events to performance
- melodramaSensational, emotionally overwrought drama
- hyperboleRhetorical extreme exaggeration
- alarmismNeedless raising of fears
magnification · escalation · sensationalism · overstatement · inflation · amplification · overestimation · doomsaying
Persistent apprehensive distress
- dreadIntense anticipatory fear
- panicUncontrollable sudden fear
- fearEmotional response to threat
- worryTroubled mental state
apprehension · terror · despair · hopelessness · overwhelm · distress · alarm · anguish
Dwelling excessively on thoughts
- ruminationProlonged, repetitive thinking
- worst-caseMost unfavorable outcome imaginable
- spiralingCurving in widening circles
- magnifyingIncreasing perceived size
fortune-telling · mind-reading · what-ifs · all-or-nothing · anticipatory · overanalyzing · obsessing · brooding
Believing events are inevitable
- defeatistOne expecting inevitable failure
- gloomyDark and dispiriting
- bleakDreary and without cheer
- cynicalDoubting human goodness
negative · doom-and-gloom · glass-half-empty · nihilistic · despairing · dismal · worrywart · Eeyore
overreaction
Disproportionate emotional response
- dramatizationConverting events to performance
- melodramaSensational, emotionally overwrought drama
- hyperboleRhetorical extreme exaggeration
alarmism · magnification · escalation · sensationalism · overstatement · inflation · amplification · overestimation · doomsaying · histrionics
anxiety
Persistent apprehensive distress
worry · apprehension · terror · despair · hopelessness · overwhelm · distress · alarm · anguish · foreboding
overthinking
Dwelling excessively on thoughts
- ruminationProlonged, repetitive thinking
- worst-caseMost unfavorable outcome imaginable
- spiralingCurving in widening circles
magnifying · fortune-telling · mind-reading · what-ifs · all-or-nothing · anticipatory · overanalyzing · obsessing · brooding · perseverating
fatalistic
Believing events are inevitable
cynical · negative · doom-and-gloom · glass-half-empty · nihilistic · despairing · dismal · worrywart · Eeyore · killjoy
catastrophizesdownplays
De-emphasizes significance of
minimizes · shrugs off · plays down · rationalizes · looks on the bright side
catastrophizing, catastrophize, catastrophized, catastrophizer